1. Field
Aspects of the present disclosure relate generally to wireless communication systems, and more particularly to optimizing subscription information location and loading procedures for devices in multi-mode systems.
2. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is the radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Time Division-Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). The UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
Multimode mobile devices or user equipment (UE) refer to mobile phones that are compatible with more than one form of data transmission or network, as contrasted with single-mode mobiles, which are compatible with just one form of data transmission or network. For instance, a dual-mode phone can be a telephone which uses more than one technique for sending and receiving voice and data.
For Multi-Mode System Selection (MMSS) operations in wireless devices, the device, which may be referred to as a (UE), must contain a base set of files for network provisioning. In some aspects, these files may be related to a Preferred Roaming List (PRL), a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) Selector, MMSS System Priority List (MSPL), MMSS Location Associated Priority List (MLPL), and the like. Initial deployments of MMSS assume that all of these initial provisioning files are present in a UE Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) along with CDMA subscription information. Where any of these files are not present, the UE may not commence MMSS operations. In new deployments, of MMSS, however, it is possible that some of the provisioning files are present on the UICC and others are present on a nonvolatile memory (NV) on the UE. Additionally, in these newer deployments, it is possible for CDMA subscription information to reside either on the UICC or the NV.